Insets: Valerie and Melvin Cordell (New Mexico State Police). Background: The site near 225 Opatah Road in Luna County, N.M., identified as the 35-acre property belonging to Valerie and Melvin Cordell (Google Maps).
A mother from New Mexico faced arraignment this week on charges of child abuse and allegations of sexually assaulting her 16-year-old daughter and her siblings along with her husband. Authorities claim the family lived outdoors year-round on a 35-acre parcel featuring “underground caves” and were subjected to “squalid conditions,” according to prosecutors.
Deming resident Valerie Cordell, 41, pleaded not guilty during her arraignment in Luna County on Monday, as shown on online court documents. She faces charges of 16 counts of child abuse, one count of criminal sexual penetration, and one count of conspiring to commit child abuse after her arrest in February.
Valerie Cordell and her husband, Melvin Cordell, 50, allegedly abused their daughter together and forced the teen to engage in sexual acts with her siblings in front of other adults, according to prosecutors.
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“During the 4-month investigation, agents learned that the family of 9 was living on a 35-acre site, located in a semirural portion of Luna County, near Deming,” the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a press release announcing charges.
“Investigating officers described it as an inhumane, squalid scene,” the DA’s office alleged. “A dilapidated trailer, several unlivable camping trailers, broken-down vehicles, boxes of rotting food, bags of trash, along with buckets located all around the property filled with human feces.”
Authorities say they learned of what was going on in October 2024 and launched their investigation after New Mexico State Police were tipped off about criminal sexual acts allegedly taking place at 225 Opatah Road in Luna County, where the family lived. The couple has seven children, ranging in age from 6 months to 16 years old, who are now in protective custody with the state, per the DA’s office.
“Authorities were originally alerted about a child who was sexually assaulted since she was 13, over the course of 4 years by her father,” the office said. “The children were found in filthy conditions, they lived outside, year-round, sleeping on a mattress in a semi-underground cave, with tunnels from 4 to 6 feet in length or took shelter in the broken-down vehicles.”
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The 16-year-old victim allegedly told police she had gotten pregnant at least two times before in the past, according to local CBS and Fox affiliate KRQE. One of the pregnancies came when she was 14 and another happened after she turned 16, KRQE reports, citing court documents.
Prosecutors have described the Cordell compound as looking like a “city trash landfill,” according to KRQE, with trash and rotten food piled up everywhere, and “underground caves” with tunnels. The desert landscape was also allegedly littered with broken-down campers and cars.
Melvin Cordell is scheduled to be arraigned on May 5.
